Question 47
NECO_MODEL_QUESTIONS_VOL1
•
2019
•
ENGLISH_LANGUAGE
•
objective
Given the two words (a) "physics" and (b) "philosophy", provide a broad phonemic transcription for each in General American English, then state which word has more syllables and which has more phonemes. Explain the reason for any difference.
Answer Options
Correct Answer
A.
Word (a) physics: /ˈfɪzɪks/
- Syllables: 2
- Phonemes: 6 (/f/ /ɪ/ /z/ /ɪ/ /k/ /s/)
Word (b) philosophy: /fəˈlɑsəfi/
- Syllables: 4
- Phonemes: 8 (/f/ /ə/ /l/ /ɑ/ /s/ /ə/ /f/ /i/)
philosophy has more syllables and more phonemes because it contains four vowel sounds and an extra consonant compared with physics.
B.
Word (a) physics: \/ˈfɪzɪks\/
- Syllables: 3
- Phonemes: 8 (\/f\/ \/ɪ\/ \/z\/ \/ɪ\/ \/k\/ \/s\/ \/t\/ \/ʃ\/)
Word (b) philosophy: \/fəˈlɑsəfi\/
- Syllables: 2
- Phonemes: 5 (\/f\/ \/ə\/ \/l\/ \/ɑ\/ \/s\/)
physics has more syllables and more phonemes because it contains additional vowel and consonant clusters.
C.
Word (a) physics: \/ˈfɪzɪks\/
- Syllables: 1
- Phonemes: 6 (\/f\/ \/ɪ\/ \/z\/ \/ɪ\/ \/k\/ \/s\/)
Word (b) philosophy: \/fəˈlɑsəfi\/
- Syllables: 3
- Phonemes: 9 (\/f\/ \/ə\/ \/l\/ \/ɑ\/ \/s\/ \/ə\/ \/f\/ \/i\/ \/ɡ\/)
philosophy has fewer syllables but more phonemes because it contains an extra consonant sound.
D.
Word (a) physics: \/ˈfɪzɪs\/
- Syllables: 2
- Phonemes: 5 (\/f\/ \/ɪ\/ \/z\/ \/ɪ\/ \/s\/)
Word (b) philosophy: \/fəˈlɒsəfi\/
- Syllables: 4
- Phonemes: 7 (\/f\/ \/ə\/ \/l\/ \/ɒ\/ \/s\/ \/ə\/ \/fi\/)
philosophy has more syllables but fewer phonemes because it contains fewer distinct consonant sounds.
Correct Answer
A
Correct Option:
Word (a) physics: /ˈfɪzɪks/
- Syllables: 2
- Phonemes: 6 (/f/ /ɪ/ /z/ /ɪ/ /k/ /s/)
Word (b) philosophy: /fəˈlɑsəfi/
- Syllables: 4
- Phonemes: 8 (/f/ /ə/ /l/ /ɑ/ /s/ /ə/ /f/ /i/)
philosophy has more syllables and more phonemes because it contains four vowel sounds and an extra consonant compared with physics.
About This Question
This is
Neco Model Questions Vol1
2019
English Language
Question 47.
It is one of the
objective
questions from the
2019
Neco Model Questions Vol1
English Language
examination.
Difficulty level:
Medium
.